AUSTIN, Texas – Feb. 27, 2012 – On Feb. 29, the Center for Politics and Governance (CPG) at the LBJ School of Public Affairs will host the event"Americans Elect: Pick a President, Not a Party." The event will examine the first national online nominating process for president with 50-state ballot access championed by Americans Elect.

Americans Elect is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that is not affiliated with any political party, ideology or candidate. It is funded exclusively by individual contributions and is working to create an online nomination process.

The event will feature a panel discussion on how Internet voting may change the way Americans pick a president and Americans Elect's progress toward nation-wide ballot access. Moderated by Sherri Greenberg, CPG Director, the panel will feature Elliott Ackerman, Americans Elect; Mark McKinnon, Vice President of Hill-Knowlton Strategies; Evan Smith, Editor-in-Chief of the Texas Tribune; Talia Stroud, Assistant Director of the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Participation; and Bruce Buchanan, Professor of Government at The University of Texas at Austin.

The event will take place from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Bass Lecture Hall in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at 2315 Red River St. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register, please visit: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/cpg/event_rsvp.php?id=79.

To date, Americans Elect has gained ballot access in 16 states and collected more than 80 percent of the required 2.9 million signatures required for national ballot access.